Minute 319: An Analysis Of The Colorado River Pulse Flow

The State of Colorado has suffered from a water shortage in recent years; a difficult situation which is easily visible when viewing the quickly shortening length of the Colorado River. Lake Mead, for example, is roughly 130 feet lower than it once was, marked by the stained rock which towers above the current water level. “The river has become a perfect symbol of what happens when we ask too much of a limited resource: it disappears. In fact, the Colorado no longer regularly reaches the sea” (Zielinski, 2010). Legislation was implemented early on to address this issue, though the results were (perhaps not surprisingly) rather unanticipated, regarding

We usually think of the Grand Canyon in terms of its rocks, and the story and history that they can contain, spanning as far back as half of the Earth’s age. There is more to this canyon though than the rocks, as it is still active as a forever changing landform, due to the power of running water. The Colorado River has carved out the Grand Canyon in just the last nine million years. In fact, the river itself carries about half a million tons of sediment through the Grand Canyon each and every day. There are a number of different river types that will be talked about, and how exactly they have effected their environment and made changes in the landscapes.

Certain models predict that drought activity is expected to increase toward the end of the 21st century and particularly in the Colorado River Basin (MacDonald & Turner, 21260). When the dam was built in the early 20th century, annual flow was about 17.0 MAF (million acre-feet) at Lees Ferry, Arizona which is a few miles below the dam. Estimates calculating the past MAF of the Colorado River average to about 13.8-14.6 over the last 450 years. Thus, the dam was built in a period with an unexpectedly high MAF. Alarmingly in 2000 the river averaged less than 9 MAF. (Bolin, Seetharam, & Pompeii, 263). In 2002, the river reached a low of about 6.2 MAF (MacDonald & Turner, 21256). Some models estimate that the river could reach the range of 1.5 to 4.5 MAF in the next 30–50 years. (Bolin, Seetharam, & Pompeii, 271). The reduction of MAF in the Colorado River is due to drought. Droughts have been occurring throughout the 20th century with droughts from 1900-1904, 1924-1936, 1953-1964, and 1988-1991. These droughts are associated with warmer regional temperatures and the level of warming is deemed exceptional for the 21st century (MacDonald & Turner, 21257). Recently the Colorado River has experienced the lowest 5 year mean flows on record (MacDonald & Turner, 21257). If river flow is low, so is Lake Powell’s water level. One study suggests that Lake Powell have a 50% chance of receding to inoperable status by the 2020’s

An Average of 1.6 trillion gallons of water are extracted from the Delta for the Central Valley Project and State Water Project on an annual basis (Holyoke). With so much demand, the Delta’s ecological balance has been deeply affected. Furthermore, water supplies and local uses are considered to be in crisis due to crashing number of fish species and old weak levees (Lund, et al.) It is feared that during a strong regional earthquake, many of the levees would fail. Due to the increasing demand on water supplies, conservation efforts, and hundreds of interests, the Delta is also the jugular of California’s water

“Climate change” and its impact on basic water supply is at their foreground. It is an unfortunate reality that the terms of the Colorado Compact, the document dividing the Colorado’s waters, is an unworkable document. Based on allotments formulated in an “especially wet year,” the average volume now flowing does not meet the amounts specified in the agreement. Under the terms of the document, California receives the largest share, but with Southern California’s exploding population, this will be increasingly inadequate. Absent changes in both urban and agricultural use patterns, the deficit will only grow and further stress the state’s political and economic systems. Man’s mastery will thus prove illusory and short-lived and the original problems of water supply will return in highly magnified

Water, a resource typically taken for granted is becoming a scarce source for the southwestern states surrounding the Colorado River. For the past sixteen years the southwestern states have been affected by drought, wildfire, an increasing population, farming, housing development and increasing temperatures all are affecting our water supply which is decreasing at a frightening rate. These increasing issues have nearly depleted Lake Mead, a large reservoir that supplies water to all the Colorado River Basin states, but due to climate change, this large reservoir is not being replenished. This is an important problem not only to me and to those already affected by low water resources, and it should be important to everyone, considering it will

The Colorado River is one of the U.S physical features, and it has the most interesting facts that may change overtime, such as where it begins, how many states and people does the water reach, and the difficulty of others from it’s drought.

The Mississippi River, the third longest river in North America and one of the world’s major rivers in terms of habitat diversity, flows over 2,000 miles and passes through 10 different states in the United States. Even with its massive size, there has been an ongoing problem and scares that the Mississippi might be taken over by a river called the Atchafalaya. By being taken over, it is meant that the Mississippi wants to take a different, easier course to get to the Gulf of Mexico than it has in the past. Naturally, the water of the Mississippi’s current flows in another direction, and has made a waterscape known as the Atchafalaya. The only problem is that industries, wildlife, the economy, and others thrive on the productions of the Mississippi in its current location. The threat of the capture could cause major issues and changes.

This study was instated directly from congress because it was finally realized how important The High Plains Aquifer because of how much of this water is used in the irrigation of crop production in the United States. Now, as a result of this study each state has to report the changes in the levels of the water and how much remains in storage in each state every two years, not only to Congress, but to be recorded on the USGS website for public access (McGuire,

The average yield of total nitrogen between the two rivers differ. The Red River has a slightly higher nitrogen yield in the early data set (1992-1994) than the Sweetwater River (Figure 2A). Whereas, nitrogen yield in the Red River is significantly lower than the Sweetwater in 2005-2007 (Figure 2A). Comparing the two datasets corresponding to years, the Red River showed significant decrease in the average yield of nitrogen (Figure 2A). However, the Sweetwater nitrogen yield has dramatically increased since the earlier data collection (Figure 2A).

Chapter one starts with the telling of the history of the Colorado River and its usage. It discusses the Colorado River Compact that was signed in 1944 that essentially divided the Colorado River’s water up into seven allotments for the seven states that the river flowed through. Upon further reading, it is discovered that when the engineers estimated the annual flow of the river, 1905 to 1922, had actually been a time of over average rainfall. This in turn doomed the lower states that shared the river to a much less flow rate that the upper states. This not only extremely limited the amount of water that the lower states received, it also reduced the amount of power that could be generated by dams along the river. Another interesting fact

The Colorado river provided the Southwestern states with the water source they needed to provide for the population, agriculture and energy. California has been seeing a population growth and that meant more water they needed from the Colorado River. The Colorado Basin states feared California would establish priority rights to Colorado River water (Gelt, 1997). Delph Carpenter, a Colorado attorney, suggested a compact to determine each state’s individual rights to the Colorado River, before the Federal government intervenes, therefore each state agreed of an interstate compact to share the water. The boulder project, or what is known the Hoover Dam, was a major advantage to California, which gave them more access to the water supply. Arizona, however was at a disadvantage, especially for the southern-central population. Arizona Central Arizona Project was to solved the water scarcity and the project was started, when Arizona asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a judicial apportionment (Gelt, 1997). After eleven year

According to Ballotpedia, the top largest cities by population in 2013 were New York, New York with the population of 8,405,837, Los Angeles, California with 3,884,307, Chicago, Illinois with 2,718,782, Houston, Texas with 2,195,914, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with 1,553,165.

From the Rocky Mountain National Park to the mouth at the Sea of Cortez, the Colorado river supplies water for more than 35 million people in seven U.S. states: Colorado, California, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. Both U.S. and American citizens depend on this river for freshwater for domestic, industrial (energy), and agricultural needs—in recent decades, the fishing industry in the area has been especially depressed as water has been used to irrigate more than 5 million acres of agricultural land in the West. Similarly, dozens of dams along the Colorado River store water and generate hydropower for millions of people. Moreover, eleven national parks lie within the watershed, and the species that once thrived in the Colorado River Delta and riparian corridor–particularly birds, fish, and plants–are severely endangered. Additionally, the lands of at least 22 Native American tribes also lie on and rely on the watershed. Outdoor recreators and conservationists are of course also affected by the poor health of the river.

The elevation of the Colorado River, at the bottom of the Canyon, averages out to around 2,200 feet (670 meters). The average elevation of the south rim is around 6,800 feet (2,072 meters) with the highest spot, Grandview Point, being 7,400 feet (2,255 meters). The average elevation of the north rim is about 8,000 feet (2,438 meters) with the highest point, Point Imperial, being 8,800 feet (2,682 meters). The depth of the Canyon at the South Rim, near Grand Canyon Village, measures almost a vertical mile, about 5,000 feet (1,524 meters).